A great shame about last month's meeting, but due to the very bad conditions with snow and ice we regrettably had to cancel the meeting. But, our mid-month meeting was the Quartzmite project presented by Colin G8TMV, very interesting Colin, and thanks.
glad to say the WX is warming up, just had a couple of hours in the garden this morning (Friday 23rd) not that I'm much of a gardener but must soon start to think about getting some summer plants in!!

AT THE G4DXWorkers QTH.

This past month I have found plenty of DX around (SSB of course!!) particularly down into Africa. ZS South Africa, TN Rep of Congo, TY Benin, TJ Cameroon, 3C0 Annobon, 7X Algeria and 3V8 Tunisia. Over to the west now, FG Guadeloupe, PJ5 Saba, PJ2 Curacao, LU Argentina and NP Puerto Rico plus a couple of VK's. 83 countries in the log for this year so far, and I'm 24th in the CDXC DX Marathon Challenge in the SSB section, so still holding my own but having finished 53rd last year with 136 countries worked I expect to drop down further and further as the year goes on!!!!
See you all on Wednesday,
73 es Gd dx Ron

At the QTH of G8XLH
Apart from planning the club program for the rest of the year, I did manage to repair an Icom 720A which was deemed “worthless” and has now been repaired for the cost of a Zener Diode from my spare stock. I also managed to work on FT8 Saudi Arabia on 17M and received the E-QSL a few minutes later.

Next Meeting-28th March - Restoring Vintage Radios by Tony Thompson.

Tony is a local author, and has written a series of books on restoring vintage radios. Qualified in Radio, TV and colour TV servicing, he worked in the rental TV trade and educational television programme production before training as a Design and Technology teacher, after which he taught technology in all its forms for many years before retirement in the summer of 2001.

In between times, he gained a degree and ran his own retail TV, video and Hi-Fi shop and servicing business. He had articles published in 'TELEVISION', 'RADIO BYGONES', 'EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS' and other magazines and his book, Design & Technology: Electronic Products for GCSE

He also runs the Vintage Radio world Website:-http://www.vintageradioworld.co.uk/
Via the website you can also receive a wide range of “Service Sheets” covering domestic Radios, Tape Recorder and Amplifiers for a small fee. Shown below are some of his current publications

Special Events Team Information (SETI)

1st April 2018 RAF 100 Anniversary- GB0LRS (Langtoft Radar Station)

We need help on Saturday 31st March from 1pm local time, setting up and preparing the 2 halls. One for display and public information and setting up the rear hall ready for the 2 operating stations.
Sunday April 1st. from 8.00 am setting up antennas, radio stations and displays etc. PUS operating, talking to the public and at the end of the day packing it all up. This event is being publicized so a good turnout of PADARC members would be welcomed.

Following on from our last meeting where Colin G8TMV showed us his Quartzmite project, I ordered one of his surface mount kits and a microscope from eBay and I am going to give SMD construction a try. Will keep you all posted.

Many of you will be used to the idea of using the CAT or CIV to control a Transceiver from a computer. Several software Authors have looked at using the information from the Transceiver to control other products.

The first is to drive a remote SDR radio like “Hack Green” but using the real controls on your transceiver.
For more information visit the author’s website: https://catsyncsdr.wordpress.com/
See a YouTube video of CAT Sync under: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSHfkjhx0cThe next is for users of the FT817 to drive a larger colour display rather than just the small LCD on the front of the rig, plus it includes extra information. Available as a Kit, Ready Built or just Software only.

Finally for those who have the IC-7300 this allows the rig spectrum plot and waterfall to display on a computer. You can also point and click with the mouse to control the radio. No hardware needed just a USB lead.

Parking at club QTH
Unfortunately parking is quite tight at the club. We have tried to negotiate additional parking at the school but failed to make any progress. So do not park at the school even if the barrier is up, as you could be locked in until the following morning.

An alternative plan (at your own risk) is to park against the hedge which runs from the community centre to the school gates. You can exit at the school gates end with a tight RH turn. However you will have to wait for the car in front to leave before you can.